Cap on political party contributions moves forward

DOWNTOWN SAN DIEGO  City leaders want to move forward quickly with a proposal to cap how much political parties can give directly to city candidates after both major parties flooded campaigns with more than $1.3 million during the past three years.

The limits on political parties would be $10,000 for City Council candidates and $20,000 for citywide candidates under a proposal approved 3-2 Wednesday by a council committee. The motion also called for the city to enact the limits as emergency legislation before the 2014 election cycle officially kicks off June 3, a move that may not be possible under the city’s current rules.

“It’s very important for our communities to have a voice in our local elections and to know who has a voice in local elections,” said Councilwoman Sherri Lightner, chair of the rules committee. “Reasonable limits on political party contributions will create greater transparency and an informed and engaged electorate.”

Nobody spoke against limits at the hearing although the local Republican Party is opposed. Party Chairman Tony Krvaric said it’s “highly unlikely” that the new limits would go unchallenged in court.

“We don’t believe that limits on the First Amendment rights of broad-based democratically elected political parties are constitutional,” he said.

The city has been wrestling with how to address political party contributions since 2010 when U.S. District Judge Irma E. Gonzalez axed some of the city’s campaign finance laws as unconstitutional in response to a lawsuit filed by the Republican Party and others. One of the laws that was tossed out was the city’s decades-long ban on political parties giving directly to candidates.

The city responded by adopting a $1,000 limit on party contributions, but it was struck down by Gonzalez last year. She said it was too low but didn’t specify what threshold would be sufficient. Party contributions have been unlimited since then.

Parties used the new rule in a major way in the 2012 mayor’s race. The Republican Party gave its candidate Carl DeMaio $829,000, while the Democratic Party gave eventual winner Bob Filner nearly $234,000.

The argument in favor of limits is to prevent corruption and undue influence or at least the appearance of it. One example is that a wealthy donor could circumvent the city rules on individual contributions to candidates by using a political party as a conduit.

The argument against bans or limits is that they infringe upon constitutional rights of free speech and freedom of association. Supporters of unlimited contributions say they allow for the support of robust political competition.

The new $10,000/$20,000 limit is based on the recommendation of Thad Kousser, an associate professor of political science at UC San Diego, as a balance between preserving free speech rights and setting appropriate limits. A second expert — Richard Hasen, a professor of law and political science at UC Irvine — said those limits would likely stand up to a legal challenge.

The proposal passed on party lines with council Democrats — David Alvarez, Marti Emerald and Lightner — favoring the limit as a way to avoid litigation and Republicans — Kevin Faulconer and Mark Kersey — preferring even lower limits. It will now go before the full council for a final decision.

Faulconer proposed moving forward with the Ethics Commission’s previous recommendation to limit party contributions at $3,000 for district races and $12,000 for citywide races. He also said he would support the higher limits if they are approved by the Ethics Commission and wanted both options forwarded to the council. That motion failed on a 2-3 vote.

“There may or may not be a magic number,” Faulconer said. “I don’t pretend to know what that magic number is, but I do support and have always supported campaign contribution limits. I think they work. I think they’re important and I think why we’re here today is the question of how do you make them effective?”

Alvarez responded later, “We’ve been warned we’re going to be sued if it’s $3,000 and $12,000. Maybe some people want to go down that path so that we get sued so that there are no limits.”

An attorney for the local Democratic Party said the party supported the $10,000/$20,000 proposal.

If such limits had been in place during the past three years, party contributions to candidates would have totaled $198,000 instead of $1.3 million.

The proposal doesn’t apply to unlimited independent spending by special-interest groups such as business and labor which is protected by courts. Unlike political parties, those groups cannot give directly to city candidates.

The current limits on individual contributions are $500 for council races and $1,000 for citywide races so the new party limits would allow parties to contribute 20 times as much as individuals.

Fundraising for the next election cycle begins June 3 — a year before the 2014 primary — and the council committee wanted to bypass normal rules to enact the new limits before then. The City Attorney’s Office will review whether that’s possible. If it doesn’t go into effect immediately, there could be a window of a month or two for parties to unlimited sums to candidates before the cap is in place.